Openreach community fibre partnership

We are on a rural exchange in Kent. The exchange has a FTTC presence from Callflow Solutions as part of BDUK (I think) but the problem is we are on an exchange only line so the FTTC solution is no use to us. Callflow estimate is 10Mbps which is significantly less than the 16Mb we get from Talk Talk.

We are a small community of 7 properties on a farm estate. We have an Openreach fibre cable running overhead right past the entrance to the farm estate so the property furthest from the cable is about 250 yards away.

I spoke to all the residents on the estate as they are all constantly complaining about the broadband situation here and they are all keen on progressing a community partnership. I filled in the details on the Openreach website and they have come back with an initial estimate of a little over £33k or £4735 per property for a FTTP solution giving us speeds of up to 330Mb.

That seems like an awful lot to me given how close we are to an Openreach fibre cable. I know every situation is different but how does that cost sound in relation to other partnership products? How would FTTP be delivered? Would that mean digging up to lay cable? That sounds expensive. Most of us would be happy with a FTTC solution and speeds in the 50-60Mb region if it could reduce the cost.

I'm no Openreach engineer but in my mind if they could somehow patch in to the cable running past the estate and install a small cabinet they could use the existing copper for the last couple of hundred yards it could reduce the cost significantly or is that simply not how it works?

The initial estimate letter also mentioned grants that may be avaiable, does anybody know what sort and how much they might be worth?

Steve

No way of knowing what the fibre cable is doing and you don't just break into a fibre cable and patch in, so it is possible the break out point that would be used is a lot further away.

How do the actual telephone lines reach you now? The FTTP fibre will usually use at least of that.

The vouchers would cost likely be https://gigabitvoucher.culture.gov.uk/rural/

There is a telegraph post on the road right beside the entrance track to the farm estate and the cables are overhead up to that point. From there the cables serving each property are underground, at least that's my understanding of things. The property we're in is a stable block that was converted to residential just over 20 years ago so the cables were most likely laid then, not sure about the other properties on the estate.

I really hope there's a way to get the costs down a bit, the best part of £5k per property would be a tough sell, too rich for me I'm afraid.

EDIT: Just looking at pictures on Google street view, the cables from the telegraph post right by the estate entrance are overhead for a bit further than I remembered, I'll have another look in the daylight tomorrow.

Edited by sjr (Wed 28-Aug-19 23:41:17)

Can you private message the postcode, as will attempt to guess how far the aggregation node (from where they would run the fibre is) is.

Have you attempted to approach CallFlow for a quote to deliver their service specifically?

In reply to a post by sjr:

The initial estimate letter also mentioned grants that may be avaiable, does anybody know what sort and how much they might be worth?

Take a look at this https://gigabitvoucher.culture.gov.uk/rural/

I did call Callflow Solutions and the sales agent said that because of the distance from the exchange the best we would get with their service is 10Mb. That said, I didn't ask about the possibility of having a cabinet near the estate as I wasn't sure if that was an option they would consider or not. Sales agent didn't try too hard to get our business when I told him the downstream speeds he was quoting as an estimate were a little more than half of what we get with Talk Talk on ADSL2+

I'll PM the postcode separately.

Edited by sjr (Wed 28-Aug-19 23:30:51)

I take it that on that chart where it says 'Max Voucher Value Resident' means per property rather than each resident in a property?

https://gigabitvoucher.culture.gov.uk/rural/

Para 2, Line 2: "up to £1,500 per residential premise"

In reply to a post by sjr:

I take it that on that chart where it says 'Max Voucher Value Resident' means per property rather than each resident in a property?

As MCM says its per property, if you use the postcode search it will confirm if your postcode is eligible for a rural voucher as not all postcodes are eligible.

In reply to a post by sjr:

I'm no Openreach engineer but in my mind if they could somehow patch in to the cable running past the estate and install a small cabinet they could use the existing copper for the last couple of hundred yards it could reduce the cost significantly or is that simply not how it works?

I suspect the cost to providing the smallest FTTC cabinet for just 7 properties would be greater than the £33K you have been quoted for FTTP.